W.A.S.P. is an American heavy metal band formed in 1982. They emerged from the same Los Angeles scene that spawned Van Halen, Mötley Crüe, Dokken, Ratt, Quiet Riot, Guns N' Roses and others. The band's popularity peaked in the 1980s, yet they continue to record and tour, making them one of the most enduring of the West Coast heavy metal bands. W.A.S.P. gained notoriety for their shock rock themed image, lyrics and live performances. They have sold over 12 million copies of their albums.The band was a prominent target in the mid-1980s of the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC), an organization that pushed for warning labels on recorded music. The band immortalized its fight with the PMRC on the song "Harder, Faster" from their 1987 live album, Live...In the Raw."I Wanna Be Somebody" was the most successful single from W.A.S.P.'s debut album and It was ranked at No. 84 in VH1's 100 Greatest Hard Rock Songs of All Time.In October 2007, W.A.S.P. embarked on The Crimson Idol Tour, to celebrate that album's 15th anniversary. It is the first time that the album, often regarded to be among the band's finest work, was performed in full from start to finish. The tour kicked off in Greece, in Thessaloniki at the Principal Club Theater on October 26, 2007.Blackie Lawless remains the last member from the original line-up. They released their most recent album in November 2009, entitled Babylon.On September 21, 2012, the band celebrated the 30th anniversary of their first ever live show by kicking off a world tour at The Forum in London. The set for the tour was split into three sections: songs from the first four albums, a cut-down rendition of the Crimson Idol performance and a final segment for newer material.

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On Oct. 9, W.A.S.P. will release Golgotha, their 15th studio album and first since 2009′s Babylon. We have the exclusive premiere of one of the record’s songs, “Last Runaway,” which you can listen to below.“Forty years ago I came to Hollywood as a teenager,” says frontman Blackie Lawless. “Terrified and scared out of my mind, I had no idea what waited there for me. The song ‘Last Runaway’ is an intensely personal account of what happened to me, not only then but over the years and the success that followed after. Be it a kid looking for success in the music business or any life challenging endeavor that someone would ‘Runaway’ from in life, I’m certain that everyone can relate to this story one way or another. It’s another kid ‘chasing the dream’ and trying to survive it in the process. We’ve all been there.”Named after the hill where Jesus Christ was crucified, Golgotha (which means “place of the skull”) continues their exploration of Biblical horror stories that W.A.S.P. employed on Babylon. ““There are times in any band’s career that somehow all things mesh together,” says Lawless. “Their experiences, influences, and personal timing bring them into a common space. This has happened with this record. Four years in the making has provided direction, but even greater reflection.”